CHAPTER 310: WALL OF MAGMA

Each one led back to a single point... the tall, reptilian feminine figure in black and crimson robes with her hands dancing through the air as her lips murmured incantations.

Two black horns curled elegantly from her temples with glowing tips.

Red sigils spun around her like satellites, and from the ground, a network of glowing channels reached toward the fortresses in the distance.

From each fortress, pillars of crimson light ascended, feeding into the enormous runic circle hovering above the clouds.

This was none other than Vayla, the Drakenar Sorceress.

And right beside her stood a tall figure clad greyish armor. Although he wasn’t as tall as Garo and Maro, he was well over eight feet. This was none other than Commander Aiz.

Victor felt his gut twist. He’d noticed their presence before, faintly, but he hadn’t dared to think about it while he was busy staying alive. Now that the dust was settling, the sheer pressure radiating from those two was unmistakable.

Elyra clenched her fists. "Those two... their mana is immense," she whispered. "It’s like standing in front of a storm and a volcano at the same time. If they decide to join in, we’re done for."

Victor nodded grimly. "Then let’s make sure they don’t get the chance."

He turned toward the remaining students scattered across the field, still fighting the last wave of Drakenar soldiers. "Everyone! We’re getting out of here!" His voice boomed through the chaos, empowered by qi. "Head toward the fortress on the eastern ridge! Move!"

The young awakened students looked up, startled, but the command in his voice cut through the panic. They started to regroup, pulling back as Victor and Elyra moved to cover them.

Behind the lines, Commander Aiz watched silently.

His molten-orange eyes reflected the fleeing humans, and for a moment, his expression was unreadable. Then, slowly, he exhaled and a faint plume of steam rose from between his lips.

"Useless bunch," he muttered coldly as his gaze swept over the scattered Drakenar troops lying dead across the field. "Can’t even handle a few fledgling humans."

He turned slightly toward Vayla, who was still maintaining the complex runic formation with her eyes emitting a golden glow. "The young humans are trying to flee. Deactivate the circle."

Her fingers paused in mid-air. "Not all the transport pods have come through yet," she voiced with a slightly distant and trance-like tone. "There are still over two dozen in transit."

Aiz’s gaze hardened. "Forget them," he stated with a commanding tone. "We already have more than enough."

Vayla hesitated as the magical light around her flickered uncertainly. "I can’t deactivate it instantly," she said. "It’ll take... sixty breaths before the rune completes its reversal."

Aiz exhaled with an irritated expression. His armored hand flexed at his side, causing it to croak. "Sixty breaths," he repeated slowly as his voice turned icy. "Then I shall make sure none of them escape in that time."

He stepped forward and the surrounding mana trembled.

Heat spread from his body in rolling waves, melting the frost left behind from Victor’s frost bloom and turning shattered weapons into molten puddles.

The ground beneath his boots cracked, and a golden-orange hue began to shimmer from the joints of his armor.

"The humans were right when they said..." Aiz voiced out with a deep tone. "If you want something done right... do it yourself."

The moment his foot touched the cracked earth, the temperature surged violently.

Puddles of molten magma instantly spread out across the ground from his feet region.

Even from hundreds of meters away, Victor felt the air burn his lungs.

"Shit," he muttered as they sped towards the fortress. "That guy’s like a walking volcano."

Elyra’s eyes flickered toward him with a grim tone. "No... he’s worse."

Aiz raised his hand, and a crimson halberd materialized in the air beside him. It’s shaft was engraved with glowing runes that burned with the same hue as the sky.

He pointed the blade toward Victor’s retreating group, and the earth erupted.

A massive fissure tore open between the students and the fortress they were running toward with flames gushing from its depths like liquid fire.

Aiz didn’t move again, but the halberd in his hand throbbed and suddenly, streams of molten energy burst upward, forming towering walls of fire around the entire battlefield.

Victor’s expression darkened. ’So he’s cutting off our escape routes.’

"Victor!" Elyra called out. "I’ll try to dispel the barriers!"

He nodded with a look of determination. "Do that. I’ll buy you time."

"Be careful... Try to avoid direct confrontation by any means!" Elyra voiced in concern.

Victor turned towards Commander Aiz who was now walking slowly across the molten plains.

Each of Aiz’s steps made the air shimmer like a mirage.

Victor cracked his knuckles and exhaled. "Alright, big guy... guess we’re doing this."

He slammed his fist into the ground as qi erupted from his body like a storm.

He activated his Void Emperor bloodline and markings spread across his arms and neck like flowing light.

His hair which was now about 70% white and 30% black, began to float as his eyes emitted a faint violet glow.

Within an instant, his surroundings blurred as he shot forward with incredible speed.

Aiz’s eyes flicked to the side just as Victor reappeared with a blazing dragon of fire surging from his mouth.

"Dragon Breathing Arts: Skyfire Spiral!"

The whirling inferno spun toward Aiz like a flaming saw.

With a single motion, Aiz swung his halberd downward. The spiral split in half, causing the flames to scatter harmlessly around him.

"Pathetic," he said coldly.

But Victor had already moved again.

He appeared at Aiz’s flank using Phantom Mirage Step and thrust his palm forward, releasing a surge of freezing qi.

"Frost Bloom Palm!"

The palm strike connected.

Frost spread rapidly across Aiz’s armor, coating his right side in a layer of glittering ice.

His movement slowed very slightly but it was enough for Victor to follow up with a sweeping kick infused with Gale Strike, sending a blast of compressed wind crashing into Aiz’s chest.

Aiz stumbled back half a step...

Just half.

Then, the ice shattered.

"You are strong," Aiz stated while casually brushing a fleck of frost from his shoulder. "For a fledgling..."

He vanished.

Victor’s eyes widened. "Oh, come on—!"

Aiz appeared right in front of him, faster than Victor could blink.

The halberd came down in an arc of molten energy. Victor barely managed to Shadow Blink backward as the ground where he stood exploded into molten shards.

A pillar of molten lava burst forth from his initially position, spreading across the terrain like a haze of destruction.

Despite evading it, the energy burst sent him flying and burnt through his already tattered uniform.

He gritted his teeth as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

’This guy is a monster...’

He initially thought Garo and Maro were strong but this dude, whoever he was... was entirely on another level.

Just from their first encounter, Victor could tell that there was no hope of defeating him.

However, defeating him wasn’t the aim here...

A calm expression spread across Victor’s face as he back flipped across the air and landed on his feet. "Alright then, Grandpa Charcoal. Let’s dance."

Commander Aiz swung out his halberd again and Victor countered with sword strikes, avoiding close confrontation with the Drakenar.

Boom! Boom! Bang!

Strikes rang out repeatedly as their surroundings trembled from the clashes.

The air around Victor shimmered like a boiling mirage. Every breath felt like inhaling molten glass.

Even though he had already wrapped his qi around his skin, the sheer intensity of Commander Aiz’s heat kept searing through, biting at his flesh and bones.

If he were an ordinary human, he’d already be a pile of cinders.

"Dammit," Victor muttered under his breath while gripping his sword. "It’s like fighting inside a volcano’s armpit."

The Drakenar Commander stood not far ahead with the halberd in his hands glowing white-hot, as though dipped directly into the heart of the sun.

Each swing left fissures in the ground that gushed molten rock.

When the halberd came down again, Victor didn’t even try to block. He used Wind Glide, leaping aside as the ground beneath him ruptured into an inferno. A pillar of magma burst upward, lighting the sky like a flare.

Victor spun mid-air and landed slightly on a floating rock slab befor propelling downwards with Gale Strike.

The commander’s next attack came immediately without any pause or warning.

"Why can’t you be one of those villains who talks too much?" Victor grunted. "I could use a break."

A blast of fiery energy met his words. Victor ducked, rolled, then exhaled sharply. Flames swirled in his throat, shaping themselves into a dragon.

"Dragon Breathing Art: form I!"

A massive serpentine flame the size of two trucks, slithered forward with intensity.

The crimson torrent met Aiz’s molten halberd mid-swing, cutting through the blaze in a spiral dance of power. The explosion that followed swallowed both of them in fire and smoke.

Victor emerged from it first with sweat and soot streaking his face. At this point, he was half naked.

’Can’t keep this up much longer,’ he thought grimly. ’Just gotta stall him till the others get to the fortress.’

A shadow suddenly appeared behind him—

"It’s over!"